Mark Cuban opened up in an interview about why he sold the Dallas Mavericks and to whom.

In December of 2023, Cuban decided to sell a majority of his investment in the Mavericks to the Adelson and Dumont families. Miriam Adelson is one of the biggest donors to President Donald Trump, and Cuban is famously a Democrat.

Cuban has been quietly displeased with the direction of the Mavericks and finally opened up about it in a recent interview on the Intersections podcast.

“I don’t regret selling,” Cuban said. “I regret who I sold to. I made a lot of mistakes in the process, and I’ll leave it at that.”

Cuban originally bought the Mavericks for about $285 million back in 2000, and he turned that investment into $3.5 billion when he decided to sell the Mavericks.

The former owner made it clear that he still wanted to have control over the basketball team despite Patrick Dumont being the team’s new governor. Cuban currently holds 27% stake in the organization.

Cuban said that owning the Mavs was too much of a financial burden for a “middle-class billionaire” like himself.

He referenced the emotional commitment it took for him to be the owner, which was a major factor in his decision to sell the team.

“You hear the passion and everything,” Cuban added. “Now imagine going up and down like that every single game. That’s hard.”

“My kids, they were coming of age where they would have the mindset that they want to work at the Mavs. I didn’t want them to. If fans don’t like what you’re doing or the team’s not doing well, you’re the worst human being on the planet.”

Cuban was soon completely erased from any decision-making despite his claim that he would still be running the basketball operations.

Everything seemed good after a 2024 Finals run led by superstar Luka Dončić, which made Cuban bite his tongue.

Following the shocking trade of Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2025, Cuban was irate that the franchise would make such a dumb move following an NBA Finals appearance. Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison called Cuban to inform him of the move.

Much to Cuban’s disappointment, the Mavericks have had a dreadful season, holding a 24-51 record. Luckily for the Mavs, they were able to draft rookie sensation Cooper Flagg, who will help during their rebuilding process.

Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic spoke to reporters on Wednesday after a 119-99 win over the Bulls to address the team’s early miscues with new shooting guard Klay Thompson. Dallas added the veteran shooter in the hopes of forming a new big three, but he has struggled to contribute to the team’s existing scheme.

“I think we’re still trying to figure it out,” Doncic told reporters. “It’s not easy to connect with a guy right away. Me and [Kyrie Irving], we needed some time to connect. Now we have all three on the squad. Obviously, we’re gonna need some more time, but it’s getting easier and easier.”

After a hot start to the season, scoring at least 18 points in his first three games, Thompson has cooled off precipitously, scoring just 11.4 points per game in his last five. Even in his nightmarish final season with the Warriors last year, he still managed 17.5 points per game for the season. Doncic’s acknowledgment confirmed what the stats were already suggesting: Thompson isn’t meshing well in Dallas just yet.

These are still early days, and with Doncic and Irving both producing, Thompson hasn’t had to be at his sharpest for the team to earn a solid 5-3 record. Still, coming off such a subpar year in Golden State, it’s sensible to question if the 34-year-old can recapture any of his old magic on a new team. 

The results at face value tell a concerning tale, but there’s evidence to suggest that Thompson still has the chance to take a step forward. In a small sample size, he’s shooting slightly better than he did over the course of last season. The main obstacle has been a lack of opportunities, as his attempts from the field have dropped considerably since the first three games. If the team can find more ways to get him the ball, there’s a chance he can produce in a high-end supporting role behind Doncic and Irving.

“That’s a big reason why I came here, those two guys,” Thompson said in October, per a team release. “(I have) big dreams and aspirations with this team. They were so close last year, and I really feel we have everything we need. I’m more motivated than ever.”

Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic said Wednesday that he intends to play for the Slovenian national team at the 2024 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament this summer. Though he is monitoring a nagging knee ailment, he claimed that it would be the only thing that could keep him from competing.

“Yeah, I think we’ll see how my knee is. But if it’s a good, I’m going to go play, yeah,” Doncic said when asked about his knee at NBA Finals media day in Boston.

Regardless of whether the Mavericks defeat the Celtics in the NBA Finals, Doncic will wrap up an extremely productive season later this month. Not only did he improve his personal play and earn MVP consideration, but he has also led Dallas to a deep and unexpected postseason run.

Just as Doncic has proven himself indispensable on the Mavericks, the fate of the Slovenian national team also lies on his shoulders in many ways. He is the only NBA player on the team’s current roster and helped the team qualify for the 2020 Olympics for the first time in the nation’s history. He led the team in nearly every statistical category in the tournament, in which the Slovenians finished just outside medal position in fourth.

“It’s unbelievable; a country of two million people being top four in the world,” Doncic said in 2021. “We really achieved a lot by just going to the Olympics, it was our first time in history [here]. It’s incredible.”

In addition to the 2020 Olympics, Doncic has also contributed to Slovenia’s efforts to win the 2017 EuroBasket tournament and qualify for the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

Slovenia will compete in FIBA’s qualifying tournament against 23 other countries, including Greece in the preliminary round, which could put him into early international competition with Bucks star and former NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis has confirmed that he will be available for Game 1 of the NBA Finals Thursday night against the Dallas Mavericks. Porzingis missed the Eastern Conference Finals with a calf injury, but Boston still managed to sweep the Pacers in that series.

“I have to feel confident to go out there and leave it all on the floor and expect that I’m going to be healthy and completely fine,” Porzingis said, according to CBS.

Even if he’s not fully healthy, Porzingis’ return to the starting lineup is a massive development for the Celtics, who were already favored to defeat Dallas and win the NBA Championship. Since acquiring Porzingis from the Wizards in a three-way trade last summer, Boston has become the unchallenged top team in the Eastern Conference.

In prior seasons, Boston has built teams around deadly perimeter shooting and solid defense, but the organization has gained a reputation of falling short in big series. With Porzingis on the team alongside stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the Celtics earned a 64-18 regular season record and crushed all opposition in their conference in the playoffs.

The Mavericks have overcome a difficult path through the Western Conference, relying heavily on star tandem Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving in series wins against the Clippers, Thunder and Timberwolves. The road only gets tougher, however, as Boston likely would have been favored against any team in the Western Conference — with or without Porzingis.

In this modern iteration of the Celtics, the team has only been to the NBA Finals once, in 2021. Led by a younger Tatum, Boston made a solid run that year but ultimately fell to the Golden State Warriors at the very end of their dynastic run.

This time around, there is no old guard. The Celtics have been the undisputed team to beat by any metric all season, and they have played the part to perfection in the postseason so far. With Porzingis returning, the team will be at full strength as it tries to earn a championship some might say is long overdue.

After earning first-team All-NBA honors Wednesday, the Dallas Mavericks’ Luka Doncic and Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are in line to receive some of the largest contracts in NBA history in the near future. The two young stars excelled in the Western Conference in the 2023-24 season, leading their teams to historic runs.

Many different stories came out of this year’s All-NBA announcement, some more critical than others. On one hand, many fans rejoiced over the return of three-time MVP Nikola Jokic to the first team after he missed out in 2023. On the other hand, many have knocked the league for strictly enforcing its game-limit rule, which forced players to compete for at least 20 minutes in 65 games to be eligible for the honor.

The stories involving Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander, however, are ongoing, as All-NBA honors are merely a chapter in their meteoric rises in the NBA.

Doncic, the Maverick’s 25-year-old point guard, earned his fifth straight first-team designation by a nearly unanimous vote, with all but one of the 99 voters selecting him. He is just the third player, along with Tim Duncan and Kevin Durant, to make the First Team five times before the age of 26.

Beyond his individual achievements this season, which include his first scoring title, Doncic is currently leading the Mavericks in an underdog postseason run to the Western Conference Finals. As the fifth seed in the conference, the team defeated the Clippers and first-seeded Thunder and now hold a 1-0 series lead over the Timberwolves.

Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder may have just lost to the Mavs in the playoffs, but Oklahoma City still exceeded every possible expectation in 2023-24 season. The young team, still in the midst of rebuilding, earned a 57-25 record to lead the Western Conference. Gilgeous-Alexander, also age 25, performed phenomenally, scoring 30.1 points per game over the course of the season.

With Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander nearing the end of their designated rookie extensions, they’re both likely to earn lucrative deals in the near future. Doncic’s next deal would begin in the 2026-27 season while Gilgeous-Alexander’s would start one year later.

According to ESPN, the Mavericks star is in line to receive a five-year contract for around $346 million. Meanwhile, Gilgeous-Alexander could sign a four-year deal for $279 million that would culminate in a record-breaking $81 million salary in the 2030-31 season. These two stars have been spotted as the NBA’s new leaders, and in time, they will be paid to reflect that immense value.

This week, LeBron James took to social media to criticize the NBA’s challenge rules. Specifically, James argued that teams should retain their right to challenge after successfully overturning a call.

James was watching Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, like many angry fans, when he commented. In that game, Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd made two successful challenge calls early but could not issue a third. Current NBA rules set a hard cap of two challenge calls for each team per game.

“Have to change that challenge rule!” James said in his social media post. “No way you have two successful challenges and can’t anymore for the rest of the game! Makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE.”

Ultimately, the Mavericks avoided major officiating incidents and pulled out a 108-105 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves to take a 1-0 series lead. Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving have led the team further than many people thought possible, and Dallas is now one game closer to its first trip to the Finals since 2011.

Despite Dallas’ win, James’ comments about the league’s challenge rules encapsulate a pressing issue. All three major sports leagues besides the NBA allow coaches to keep their right to challenge after successful calls. The NHL discourages failed challenges by issuing delay-of-game penalties for failures. MLB revokes the right to challenge again in those cases. The NFL allows a third challenge following two successes but also charges a timeout to the challenging team for a failure.

In a fast-paced sport like basketball, capping the number of potential challenges, regardless of their outcome, is an attempt to prevent delays. But if teams need to overturn three or more calls in a game, especially a postseason game, James and others have argued that they must have that right.

The NBA offseason isn’t quite here, with the Finals not yet concluded, but it is still heating up. With the NBA Draft only about a week away, we’ve already seen two trades involving first-round picks. The latest involves the Dallas Mavericks and Houston big man Christian Wood.

The Mavericks are sending C Boban Marjanovic, F Marquese Chriss, G Trey Burke, GF Sterling Brown and the 26th overall pick in this year’s draft in exchange for Wood. With the trade, Dallas creates significant cap flexibility and addresses a need that the Maps have had for the better part of the last few seasons, a productive big man.

Wood averaged 19.1 points per game, 9.9 rebounds and one block during his two seasons with the Rockets. His arrival adds a brand new source of production for Luka Doncic and company. Their limited options at center were a huge liability in their run to the Western Conference Finals. The 26-year-old has long been the center of trade rumors due to the Rockets’ current rebuilding state and their desire to play 2021 first-round pick Alperen Sengun.

Meanwhile, the Rockets now hold the No. 3, No. 17 and No. 26 picks in the NBA Draft. They have the ability to stash the picks to draft a future superstar, or they can make a blockbuster trade with those highly coveted lottery picks. Houston’s core is extremely young with 19-year-old Jalen Green, 21-year-old Kevin Porter Jr. and 20-year-old Josh Christopher thought to be the focus of Houston’s rebuild. It will be interesting to see who the Rockets will add alongside this young potential-filled core.

Wood is entering the final year of his contract next season and is due $14.3 million. The Mavericks have a few key free agents that have yet to pay, most notably Jalen Brunson who was a key factor in their postseason success this year.

The NBA Draft is on June 23.

In the second quarter of the Houston Rocket’s restart scrimmage against the Boston Celtics, Rockets guard Eric Gordon landed awkwardly on his ankle when he rose up to make a pass and immediately went down in pain and had to be helped off the court putting no weight on his ankle.

This could not have come at a worse time for a team with already shaky depth like the Rockets. Houston, which is currently the sixth seed and currently set to play the Denver Nuggets in the first round and are tied, in terms of record, with the Oklahoma City Thunder for the fifth seed with the Thunder holding the tiebreaker and are three games ahead of the Dallas Mavericks in the loss column for the seventh seed.

The team estimates that Gordon will be out for two weeks which would likely be every one of the eight seeding games. While they had a chance to move up to fifth in the standings and play the Jazz instead of the Nuggets in the first round, my speculation is that the Rockets goal heading into the bubble is to avoid dropping to the seventh seed and getting a first-round matchup with the Clippers. The Rockets have torched the Nuggets this season and have had the Jazz’s number in the previous year with their ability to play Jazz star big man Rudy Gobert off the floor with their small-ball play. The only team that can easily match and outdo the Rockets in their small-ball play and lineups which they demonstrated by beating them 120-105 on March 5, a week before the season got shut down. While it is still unlikely that the Mavs will be able to make up the gap on the Rockets, this Gordon injury won’t help. Gordon has had a down offensive season, but he added an element of lineup flexibility and solid rotation depth that will hurt their chances to get a favorable matchup in the playoffs and if he is out for longer my hurt their long term chances to make a deep run.

This has already been a crazy NBA offseason with free agents playing Bachelorette with owners, teams blackmailing their fans into new publicly funded arena deals, and the obligatory Summer League speculation from the salivating masses. Lost in all of this madness however has been the stealthy moves by the Los Angeles Clippers to make their team into what promises to be the most amusing, though definitely not the best team in the Western Conference.

Take a quick look at who the Clippers have managed to get together since the end of the playoffs:  uprooting journeyman power forward Matt Barnes and center Spencer Hawes is a smart move for a team looking to upgrade talent and downgrade bodies, while getting Lance Stephenson in return guarantees not only a talented shooting guard but also shenanigans like his infamous ear tactics, his stunning portrayal of a paraplegic or even  his general attitude.

The Clippers also signed free agent Josh Smith to a one year deal at the veteran’s minimum which will not only provide the Clippers with some much needed depth off the bench but also with Smith’s average seven technical fouls per season and his much maligned shot selection issues.

Perhaps as a form of checking their more impulsive guys on the roster, the Clippers also signed NBA veteran/legend/god Paul Pierce, also known as maybe the most cocky shooter in the league. His bluster isn’t unbacked however; Pierce’s game winning credentials are well established already.

Add these guys to an already volatile Clippers roster that stills contains dynamic, short statured and shorter of temper point guard Chris Paul who allegedly was so hard on his now-returning teammate DeAndre Jordan that Jordan wanted to leave LA,  Austin Rivers who keeps trying to convince us he’s NOT there because he is the coach’s son, the unshakably self assured but simultaneously elderly Jamal Crawford and the athletic freakishness of Blake Griffin?

The Clippers have assembled a powder keg of players who are all scorers and big personalities on and off the court; combine this with a criminally overrated and incompetent GM cum head coach and the bright lights of LA and we finally have the Clippers team that we’ve all dreamed of for so long. I can already see Chris Paul’s head exploding.